How to remove the ‘Not Secure’ Warning on Google Chrome

Chrome 68 has been released and it’s the first release that displays a ‘Not secure’ message in the address bar on HTTP pages. What seemed like a threatening warning has eventually come to pass and all non-secure pages are deemed to be shamed.

This ‘Not Secure’ warning, for non-HTTPS websites collecting sensitive information, appears in the address bar of Chrome and implies that the website is not secure or dangerous for users. It can easily confuse a user and make them interpret some security issues with the website while seriously impacting the bounce rate of the website.

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How to Remove ‘Not Secure’ warning in Chrome

The first step to help you avoid the Not Secure warning in Chrome is to have your website moved to HTTPS. This is by getting a Secure Socket Layer certificate to encrypt your site data.

Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) are the security protocols that encrypt the exchange of data between web servers and clients. Data encryption helps to prevent malicious parties from eavesdropping into data like passwords, credit card numbers, or other personally identifiable information that is shared, as it is in transit over the web.

You will need to install the SSL Certificate onto your web server to initiate a secure session with browsers. Once this secure connection is established, all web traffic between the web server and the web browser will be secure, as it activates a padlock and the https protocol.

When a certificate is successfully installed on your server, the application protocol (also known as HTTP) will change to HTTPs, where the S stands for secure. Depending on the type of certificate you purchase and what browser you are surfing the internet on, a browser will show a padlock or green bar in the browser when you visit a website that has an SSL Certificate installed.

You can as well use free SSL from Let’s Encrypt, the easiest and absolutely free way to move your WordPress website over to HTTPS. Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open Certificate Authority that makes it painless to obtain an SSL certificate for your website. Several companies including Google (Chrome) Mozilla (Firefox) Facebook and Automattic have sponsored the project.

Google’s Plans

Google has been striving to inform users whenever they are visiting an unencrypted HTTP website, and is taking a step further to ensure safety and security on the Chrome browser. Instead of a green padlock and the word “secure” that appear in the address bar for HTTPS sites, you’ll see the words not secure. When you click on it, you’ll get a warning advising against entering any sensitive information on the site, as it could be stolen by hackers.

And in the future, Chrome plans to stick to the HTTPS agenda. In Chrome 69, secure sites will simply display a black lock icon, instead of the green padlock and the word “secure”, emphasizing the fact that HTTPS sites should be the norm. Then in Chrome 70 set for an October release, the “not secure” warning on HTTP sites will change from black to a more noticeable red.